Martyrs’ families thank Abbas for “determining that their monthly allowances must be paid immediately”

Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida
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Mar. 4, 2019

Headline: “Sbeihat: The Martyrs’ families feel pride in light of the [PA] president’s positions”
“The National Association of the Families of the Martyrs of Palestine expressed its appreciation yesterday [March 3, 2019] for [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas’ positions on all that is connected to the affairs of the Martyrs’ (Shahids’) families in the various fields.
Secretary-General of The [National] Association [of the Families of the Martyrs of Palestine] Muhammad Sbeihat said in a statement from the association: ‘The Martyrs’ families feel pride thanks to President [Abbas’] firm positions regarding them. They… greatly appreciate all of the decisions, the latest being the instructions he gave today to the [PA] government determining that their monthly allowances must be paid immediately, before all of the other sectors and without any reduction. This is despite the government’s financial situation, and particularly after the occupation robbed the tax money (refers to implementation of Israeli Anti “Pay-for-Slay” Law to deduct terrorist salaries; see note below –Ed.).’”

Israel's Anti "Pay-for-Slay" Law - Israeli law stating that the PA payments to terrorists and the families of dead terrorists is a financial incentive to terror. The law instructs the state to deduct and freeze the amount of money the PA pays in salaries to imprisoned terrorists and families of "Martyrs" from the tax money Israel collects for the PA. Should the PA stop these payments for a full year, the Israeli government would have the option of giving all or part of the frozen money to the PA.
The law was enacted by the Israeli Parliament on July 2, 2018, and its first implementation was approved by Israel's Security Cabinet on Feb. 17, 2019, when it decided to withhold 502,697,000 Israeli shekels (approximately $138 million) from the PA. In response, the PA announced it would not accept any of the tax money collected by Israel unless it also included the frozen amount.
During the initial parliamentary vote in 2018, the law's sponsor Avi Dichter said: “The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee received much help in its deliberations... from Palestinian Media Watch who provided us with authentic data that enabled productive and professional deliberations, nuances that are very difficult to achieve without precise data.” [Israeli Parliament website, July 2, 2018]